Transmission-gear.



PATENTED DEC. 26, 1905.

B. H. POMEROY. TRANSMISSION GEAR; APPLICATION FILED AUG. 22. 1904.

1 l 1 I l1 .ll f' sra'rns L ATFNT OFFICE BENNARD HENRY POMEROY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR, BY

MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO ST. LOUIS OAR COMPANY, A CORPORA- TION OF MISSOURI.

TRANSMISSION-GEAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 26, 1905.

To aZZ whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, BENNARD HENRY PoMERoY, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Transmission-Gears, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to a speed-changing gear embodying mechanism through means of which the various gears may be'quickly and efficiently brought into action to secure various degrees of speed of a shaft driven thereby. I

Figure I is a vertical longitudinal section through my transmission-gear. Fig. II is a vertical cross-section taken on line II II, Fig. I. Fig. III is a perspective view of one of the shift-wedges of the gear. Fig. IV is a view showing in detail the shift-collar. Fig. V is a perspective view of one of the frictionshoes. Fig.VI is a perspective view of the forward end of the collar-shifting rod. Fig. VII illustrates a modification.

1 designates a boxing, preferably of sectional form, and 3 is a shaft to which power is communicated from my transmission-gear. On the shaft 3 is mounted a gear 5.

8 designates a driven shaft journaled in the boxing 1 and to which is fixed a gearwheel 9, meshing with the gear 5.

10 represents a series of speed-change gearwheels carried by the driven shaft 8, the said gear-wheels being stepped from a small wheel at one end of the series to a large wheel at the opposite end of the series, as seen in Fig. I.

11 designates the drive-shaft of the gear, to which power is communicated from any suitable source and applied through the medium of a driving-wheel 12. The drive-shaft 11 is provided with longitudinal grooves 13, that taper from points A to points B at the ,end of said shaft opposite to that to which the driving-wheel 12 is fixed, the grooves being the deepest at the points B. 14 represents wedges movably positioned in said tapering grooves and the outer ends of which areprovided with tongues 15. The wedges are reduced at 16 and their outer ends occupy a transverse slot 17 in the drive-shaft 11. (See Fig. I.)

18 is a wedge-shifting rod that is annularly grooved at 19 to receive the tongue of the wedges, the said shifting-rod being slidably seated in the journal end 20 of the driveshaft 11.

21 designates a series of driving speedchange gear-wheels that are stepped in reverse order to the stepping of the driven gearwheels fixed to the shaft 8, so that the driving gear-wheels of lar est diameters oppose the driven gear-wheels of smallest diameters and the driving gear-wheels of smallest diameters oppose the driven gear-wheels of largest diameters. The driving gear-wheels 21 are interiorly of greater diameterthan the drive-shaft 11, and when any of said driving gear-wheels are not in action the drive-shaft rotates freely therein and the inactive driving-wheels rest upon supporting-seats 21 without motion being imparted to said wheels until they are actuated in the manner to be hereinafter described. At each side of each gearwheel 21, at the central openings therein, are inclined faces 22. (See Figs. I and II.)

23 designates a shift-collar loosely positioned on the wedges 14 to slide longitudinally thereof. This collar is furnished with a pair of inclined rims 2 1, spaced apart, as seen in Figs. I and IV, and in the hub of said collar intermediate of said rims are apertures 25. At the outer end of the collar is a flange 26.

27 designates a shift-rod for actuating the shift-collar 23, (see Figs. I and VI,) this rod being provided with a notch 28, that receives the shift-collar flange 26, and being cut away at 29.

3O designates a pair of friction-shoes (see Figs. I, II, and V) that are of semicircular shape and which fit between the shift-collar rims 24 and rest against the hub of said collar. These shoes are furnished at their inner sides with bosses 31, that occupy positions in the apertures 2-5 of the shift-collar hub.

The operation of my gear mechanism is as follows: As illustrated in Figs. I and II, the gearing is shown with the parts in the positions assumed when the lowest speed obtainable in the gearing is furnished, due to the largest driving gear-wheel 21 being in mesh with the smallest driven gear-wheel 10, the remainder of the driving gear-wheels at this time being out of engagement with the driven.

gear-wheels to which they correspond and resting on their respective seats 21. The positioning of the meshing gear-wheels 10, as illustrated in Fig. I, is secured through the actuation of the shift-rod 18 in. an inward direction to reciprocate the wedges 14 in their grooves and cause said wedges, by pressure against the bosses of the friction-shoes 30, to force the shoes outwardly into frictional engagement with the driving gear-wheel, so that said wheel will be locked from rotation to transmit power to the corresponding driven gear-wheel 10. Reverse movement of the wedges permits the shoes to become loosened from the driven gear-wheel, and consequently the drive-shaft 11 may rotate without causing transmission of power to the driven shaft 8. hen it is desired to throw either of the successive driving gear-wheels 21 into action to drive the driven gear-wheels 10 corresponding thereto instead of driving the wheels shown in mesh in the drawings, the collar-shift rod 27 is reciprocated inwardly while the wedges 14 are in their outer position and the shift-collar is carried forwardly on the wedges 14, its inclined rims 24. during its movement riding beneath the inclined faces 22 of the driving gear-wheels and passing into or through the central openings in said wheels to elevate them into mesh. with the corresponding driven gear wheels 10 from which they previously hung suspended. This movement of the shift-collar is continued until the driving gear-wheel that will furnish the desired speed is reached. At this time the remainder of the driving gearwheels other than the single one elevated will remain lowered and out of action. The wedge-shift rod 18 is then reciprocated inwardly, and the elevated driving gear-wheel is locked to the drive-shaft 11, due to the spreading of the friction-shoe 30 interior thereof into frictional engagement with said wheel at its interior.

The collarshift rod 27 is cutaway at.29 for the purpose of permitting the passage of its inner end through the central opening in the driving gear-wheel nearest thereto as the shift-collar is moved through the opening in said wheel; but it is unnecessary that the rod be reduced in diameter beyond the extent illustrated, for the reason that after the shift cellar has moved out of the first gear-wheel said wheel will hang suspended and sufficient space be present beneath the shaft 11 for the passage of the shift-rod of any diameter.

I have described the actuation of the parts only in connection with the forward movement of the shift-collar 23 in throwing the gearing into action from a low to a higher speed; but it will be understood that when it is desired to reverse the order of actuation and change from a high to a lower speed all that is necessary is to actuate the parts reversely from the manner described to obtain the opposite resulting change.

In Fig. VII, I have shown a modification in which the driving speed-change gear-wheels 21 are provided with internal gear-teeth 21 and the shoes 30 are provided with external teeth 30, thereby furi'iishing positive engagement between said members instead of the frictional engagement between them, as previously herein described in connection with the corresponding members 21. and 30.

I claim as my invention" 1. In a transmission-gear, the combination of a driven shaft, a series of driven. gearwheels of varying diameters fixed to said shaft, a drive-shaft, a series of driving gearwheels of varying diameters loosely surrounding said driving-shaft and having tapering faces at their sides, a slide-collar provided with tapering faces adapted to engage the tapering faces of the driving gear-wheels to permit the collar to pass into the cen tral openings of the driving gear-wheels, means for reciprocating said slide-collar, shoes carried by said slide-collar, and means for spreading said shoes to said driving gear-wheels, substantially as set forth.

2. In a transmission-gear, the combination of a driven shaft, a series of driven gear wheels of varying diameters fixed to said shaft, a drive-shaft having longitudinal tapering grooves therein, a series of driving gear-wheels of varying diameters surroundin g said drive-shaft and having central openings of larger diameter than said shaft, means encircling said drive-shaft and arranged to operate within said driving gearwheels to move either of said driving gearwheels into mesh with the corresponding driven gear-wheels, and wedges operating in the grooves of the drive-shaft for locking said driving gear-wheels to said drive-shaft, substantially as set forth.

3. In a transmission-gear, the combination of a driven shaft, a series of driven gearwheels of varying diameters fixed to said shaft, a drive-shaft, a series of driving gear wheels of varying diameters surrounding said drive-shaft and having central openings of larger diameter than said shaft, means encir cling said drive-shaft and arranged to operate within said driving gear-wheels to move either of said driving gear-wheels into mesh with the corresponding driven gear-Wheels, and means for locking said meshing driving gear-wheels to said drive-shaft; said lastnamed means consisting of friction members fitting within the meshing driving gear-wheel and wedges for exerting outward pressure against said friction members, substantially as set forth.

4. In a transmission-gear, the combination of a driven shaft, a series of driven gearwheels of varying diameters fixed to said shaft, a drive-shaft, a series of driving gearwheels of varying diameters loosely surrounding said driving-shaft and having tapering IIO faces at their sides adjacent to their central slide collar, and means for spreading said openings, a slide-collar provided With taperfriction-shoes to said driving gear-Wheels, ing faces adapted to engage said drivingsubstantially as set forth.

Wheel tapering faces When said slide-collar passes into the central openings in said driving gear-Wheels, means for reciprocating said slide-collar, friction-shoes carried jiby said BENNARD HENRY POMEROY, In presence of- BLANOHE HOGAN, M. P. SMITH. 

